The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco | Page 3

under the commander-in-chief, Don Bruno de Heceta; the packet boat San Carlos, under Lieutenant Ayala, and schooner Sonora, under Lieutenant Bodega. To Lieutenant Ayala was assigned the exploration of the Bay of San Francisco, while the Santiago and the Sonora sailed for the north. Bodega discovered the Bay which bears his name, and Heceta (to spell his name as it is usually written) discovered the Columbia River. Bancroft (History of California), in giving Palou's Vida as authority for his short and incorrect account of Ayala's survey, says: "It is unfortunate that neither map nor diary of this earliest survey is extant." It is with pleasure we are permitted to present to the public these important documents, now printed for the first time, and only regret that the shortness of time allowed for their study may perhaps necessitate later some minor corrections.
We have also received from the Minister of Marine of Spain, Don Jos�� Ferrano, under date of July 14, 1909, a drawing of the paquebot, San Carlos, together with the record of her gallant commander, Don Juan Manuel de Ayala.
Ayala was born in Osuna, Andalucia, on the 28th of December, 1745. He entered the Marine Corps on the 19th of September, 1760, and was made Alf��rez de Fragata, October 10, 1767; Alf��rez de Navio, June 15, 1769; Teniente de Fragata, April 28, 1774; Teniente de Navio, February, 1776; and Capitan de Fragata, December 21, 1782.
When the order for the exploration of the northern coast was made, Ayala was one of the officers assigned to the work. He arrived in Vera Cruz in August, 1774, proceeded to the City of Mexico, and was ordered by Viceroy Bucareli to San Blas, where he was given command of the schooner Sonora. The squadron under Heceta had hardly got under way, when the commander of the San Carlos, Don Miguel Manrique, suddenly went mad. Ayala was ordered to the command of the packet-boat, and returned to San Blas with the unfortunate officer, to follow the squadron a few days later.
In December, 1775, Ayala conducted a reconnaissance on the coast of New Spain, and at its conclusion was placed in command of the Santiago, and until October, 1778, served the new establishments of California. In August, 1779, he was sent to the Philippine Islands in command of the San Carlos, returning to San Blas in 1781. In July, 1784, he returned to Spain, and on March 14, 1785, was retired, at his own request, the royal order granting him full pay as captain of frigate in consideration of his services to California. He died December 30, 1797.

Zoeth S. Eldredge, E. J. Molera, Charles H. Crocker,
San Francisco, August, 1909. - Committee.

The March of Portol�� and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco
by
Zoeth S. Eldredge.

The popular mind accepts the oft-repeated statement that the settlement of California was due to the pious zeal of a devoted priest, eager to save the souls of the heathen, supplemented by the paternal care of a monarch solicitous for the welfare of his subjects. The political exigencies of the day are forgotten; military commanders and civil governors sink into insignificance and become mere executives of the priestly will, while the heroic efforts of Jun��pero Serra to convert the natives, his courage in the face of danger, his sublime zeal, and his unwearied devotion, make him the impelling factor in the colonization of California.
Nor is the popular conception that the church led the way into California strange, when we understand that it is to the writings of Fray Francisco Palou, friend, disciple, and successor of Jun��pero, that all historians turn for the account of the occupation. Fray Palou details the glorious life of the leader with whom he toiled; he eulogizes the worthy priest, the ardent missionary, as he passed up and down the length of the land, founding missions, planting the vine, the olive, and the fruit tree in a land whose inhabitants had often suffered from hunger; giving aid and comfort to the sick and weary and consolation to the dying. Indeed, the pictures of the padres are fascinating. The infant establishments planted by the church grew rich and powerful, but so wise and gentle was the administration of the priests and so generous their hospitality, that life in California in the first quarter of the nineteenth century was an almost dolce far niente existence.
Radiant as is the priestly figure of Jun��pero drawn by Palou, the careful investigator will find that the impelling factor in the occupation of California was stern military necessity, not missionary zeal. From the time of Cabrillo, Spain had claimed the coasts of the Pacific up to forty-two degrees north latitude by right of discovery, but more than two hundred years had passed and she had done nothing towards making good this right by settlement. The